New leadership programme for less-academically inclined students

A new leadership programme targeted at less academically-inclined students was officially launched on Wednesday by Education Heng Swee Keat.

The programme is organised by non-profit youth organisation Heartware Network, and will be open to Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) students. They will learn leadership, innovative and entrepreneurial skills.

So far, the Character and Citizenship Leadership Programme has been rolled out in six schools this year - Tampines Secondary, Yishun Secondary, Fuchun Secondary, Orchid Park Secondary, Christchurch Secondary and Mayflower Secondary. About 20 students from each school have been selected to participate in the 52-hour programme which will run over the course of a year. which was designed to span over a year.

Students will attend weekly lessons and take part in activities both in and out of school. They will also have to come up with a project in groups to identify and solve problems in their community.

"We recognise that students have different learning abilities and the Character & Citizenship Leadership Programme is one of the ways in which we can engage today's youth to create a more inclusive system with more pathways to develop less academically inclined students and achieve their potential," said Mr Raymond Huang, the founder of Heartware Network.

He added that a pilot run of the programme last year saw "stellar" results with students indicating that their average confidence level increased from 68 per cent to 93 per cent after participating in it.

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